C.F. Møller’s winning design for a new student housing project at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense is a tower made up of three towers around a common shared space. Privacy and sight lines were high priorities and each of the 250 student rooms enjoys views and balcony. A cluster of rooms becomes a new family unit and is centered around a shared kitchen and living room. These clusters then are attached to a central commons and the heart of the building. The building’s design is a careful balance between privacy and community and will provide students with a healthy space in which to study and learn.

The 14-story tower will be built to meet the 2020 Danish low-energy building codes, and will include the use of a highly insulated and airtight building envelope, low-energy pre-fab concrete components, use of natural cross-ventilation, and extensive heat recovery from exhaust air, waste water, and showers. Passive design strategies like the building’s shape, orientation, adaptation to climatic conditions, daylighting, ceiling heights and structural thermal mass help reduce energy use. The balconies not only provide extra outdoor living space but also work to manage solar gain and help keep the rooms cool in the summer. Surrounding the building will be carefully designed and sustainable landscaping that provides a balance between maintained areas and nature. Urban gardening, spaces for stormwater runoff and infiltration, recreation and walkways are all designed to protect the soil and wildlife.

Construction is expected to begin in 2013 and be completed by 2015 on this new student housing project.